Granado Espada: Shunraiki Kuronikuru (The Thunderspring Chronicles)
by Vexen Dmitri
Summary: This is the story of the Independent Mercenary team: The Thunderspring Squad. The squad captain Rezxy Lycis, together with his trusted comrades; Vexen Dmitri, Athena Clecxra, Celeste Midnightmoon and Fye Vynnette, they will fight against the most terrible forces the dark organization, Strata Vista has to offer them.
1. Quest 0

Quest 0

A Thunder under the Silent Night

The moon had waned, leaving the night as black as pitch. The ocean breeze and faint sounds of footsteps and murmuring were heard from the silence, a few lanterns could be seen shimmering throughout the cold and misty streets of Coimbra. Most people had already retired indoors; few sailors were still attending to their galleons and boats in the port, hastened to finish their repairs to the rigging and to coil ropes neatly on the dark, scrubbed decks, stevedores hurried to haul cargo to the safety of nearby warehouses.

Lights also glimmered in the bars and brothels around the city. But very few customers came for a drink or two at this late hour, especially at the shabby little bar at the edge of the docks. The place was in a very sad state; its wooden floor cracked and the tables and chairs were chipped off, even the windows were seemingly shattered. Yet still the bar managed to keep their business running as they served one of the finest of liquor in Coimbra.

That night, there were only a few customers who had come to drink at the shabby establishment. One table was occupied by a group of three men; their expressions remained hard and sober even after a few swigs of drink. Even so, they didn't spoke a single word to each other the entire time and they had their heads bowed down. Another table was occupied by a flamboyant young man and his two beautiful ladies, all three of them were slurring and laughing at one another as their mind were already intoxicated by their excess intake of alcohol.

The most interesting pair of patrons present inside the bar was the two gentlemen who were sitting at the counter. From their appearances, they seemed to be around the same age. The first man had a thick straw of gingery brown hair that reached his nape, while the other one had a wild-looking shaggy, layered black hair. Both of them carried weapons on their bodies. The blonde gentleman had a large black-bladed great sword strapped on his back. His black-haired partner however, had two pistols holstered on his belt, both guns had their muzzles crafted into a shape of a snake's head.

"Hey pops! Another round for me and my buddy here will ya?" shouted Rezxy Lycis, the brown-haired gentleman.

"Coming right up, sirs."

The bartender, a broad-shouldered man in his late forties came rushing to the counter with a bottle of wine in his hand. He poured the wine into two glasses.

"You two don't seem to look like a regular pair to me. May I ask what brings you all the way here at this time of night?" the bartender asked in a humble tone.

"Why...to have a nice, warming wine of course." Rezxy smiled faintly.

"You don't say." his black-haired friend added with a smirk as he took a gulp of the crimson red wine that was refilled into his glass.

"Alright, sir. Sorry to offend you. I mean you no harm."

After refilling his two customers their drinks, the bartender turned to face the glass cabinet that was located opposite to the counter. Picking up a soaking wet glass from the sink, he started to polish the surface of the glass with a piece of cloth in his hand.

"Sorry for my friend's attitude. He's always crummy at this late night." Rezxy said as the bartender had his back on them. "The truth is, we're here looking for someone. To be more precise; a 'something' that has been attracting a lot of attention recently."

The bartender stopped polishing his glass for a moment, and resumed.

"I see, and who is this person you are looking for exactly?" he asked stiffly.

"Oh, I'm sure he can't be missed. His name is quite spoken by the folks these days." Rezxy chuckled, taking a swig of his wine.

"The Undead Baron, Wahlansche." the young man muttered under his breath, before smacking his lips together appreciatively.

The bartender turned his head around to give the tow a cold stare. He then returned his gaze to the wine glass in his hands and shook his head.

"Sorry, son. Never heard of him before."

"Really? Oh well, that's too bad."Rezxy said disappointingly, with a slight sarcasm in his tone. "Because I thought that someone like you would know where to find him."

"I don't believe that we will be getting out of here empty-handed." mumbled the black-haired man, as his venomous pair of eyes turned to the three brutish men who sat on the table behind him. They all stared back at him, and from being quiet, they were now mumbling roughly to each other.

"I never doubted you for one sec, Vex." Rezxy grinned.

The bartender placed his polished glass next to the sink, and turned back to the counter.

"If I may ask, sirs, who exactly are you two? You don't look liks soldiers. Are you two Pioneers?"

Rezxy responded with a sigh. "Oh my, I'm sorry. I forgot to introduce myself, did I? I'm Rezxy Lycis; Eins of the Thunderspring Squad. "

"Vexen Dmitri, Zwei of the Thunderspring Squad." said Rezxy's companion.

"The Thunderspring Squad?" exclaimed the bartender. The three men sitting at the table were also put to shock. The young man and his ladies, however, were too drunk to hear a thing.

"Don't tell me that the two of you are..."

"Bounty hunters, mercenaries, assassins? Feel free to call us what you want, old man. And don't worry. We won't do any harm to you. We're just here to look for some leads that may lead to our so-called undead friend." Rezxy cut the old man's sentences short. He looked at the three men, who had already gotten up from their seat and were making slow steps for the exit.

"They've made their move." Vexen said, as he finished off his wine before his hand went to reach for one of his guns. "It's time."

"I'm afraid so." Rezxy sighed, taking the last sip of his drink as well. "Fye, if you would be so kind..."

The drunken man, who had already ceased his laughter along with his female companions a while ago, replied with mischievous grin.

"Gladly."

Just the three men arrived in front of the exit, the flamboyant young man banged the cane he held in his hands to the floor, which sent a smooth vibration throughout the ground. Out of the blue, the winds outside blew a little stronger. A loud banging was heard when all door and windows in the bar suddenly closed themselves shut, preventing the three men from exiting the joint.

"Now where are you boys going? The party's just getting started." said one of the young man's 'girlfriends', a woman with a long jet-black of hair.

"What's that you sa…"

An explosive bang broke the silence of the bar and the man crumbled to the floor, a hole had pierced across his forehead. The woman was holding a pistol which was concealed under the cloak she wore over herself.

"What in the name of…" the old bartender exclaimed at the sudden witness of violence.

"Get down, pops. This might get very ugly." warned Rezxy, whose still sitting calmly on his stool.

Without another word, the bartender obediently squatted down under the counter.

A frightening snarl was heard from the corpse's lips. The dead man suddenly sprang up from the floor and vaulted towards the black-haired woman. The undead man had somehow grown larger, and skinnier, his face had morphed into a gruesome skeleton-like. A sharp, thin blade extended out from his bony arm.

Before the creature could swing his blade upon the woman's neck, a flash of steel whistled passed in front of the creature and sliced off its bladed arm, spraying blood all over the floor. The monster let out an agonizing scream, but not for long when six bullets came raining down against its chest. It staggered into its own pool of blood, and this time it was dead for good.

"I knew that this place somehow smells like rotten Gavis. Don't you think so too, Athena?" said the other woman, who had a dark brown hair that was tied into a ponytail. She was holding a uniquely-crafted pistol in her left hand, while her right hand wielded a sharp glimmering sabre, its blade stained by the Gavi's blood.

"Well it looks like he's not the only one that stinks, Celeste." Athena's eyes pointed out to the other two men, both were also transforming into Gavis; pale humanoid yet undead creatures with two times the size of a regular human.

The first Gavi made its charge for Athena and Celeste, wielding the two bone sabres which had grew out from his arms.

"Don't you know that it's very rude to strike a lady?" Fye, the flamboyant young man, stood between the path of the Gavi and the two women.

In a single swing from his cane, three sharp blades of wind radiated outwards from it. The Gavi only managed to give a short snarl before the blades filleted it into four separate pieces, scattering flesh and blood all over the floor.

Then it was the last remaining Gavi's turn to attack. But before it could take a step forward, the staccato noise of gunfire was heard as countless of bullets came showering down from the Gavi's side. The monster groaned feebly as it swamped to the floor by the dozens of bullets that was pumped into its body.

"Next time, don't turn your eyes away from your opponent." Vexen smirked, sitting on his stool while his two serpent-headed revolvers were pointed to the gunned down Gavi.

"Guess that's all of them, right?" said Fye merrily.

"Not quite. There's still one left." Rezxy corrected. Both he and Vexen rose from their stools and looked below the counter.

"You can come out now, Undead Baron, Wahlansche." Rezxy smiled.

The bartender emerged from bottom of the counter, only this time he was no longer the broad-shouldered old man that he used to be. He had transformed completely; becoming taller and thinner, almost two to three times larger than Rezxy and Vexen, even larger than the Gavis. His skin had turned sickening blue in colour and the nice set of clothes that the 'bartender' had worn immediately changed into an ugly red coat which reached to his long, skinny legs. Another pair of arms had grown out under his original ones, and he was now holding four gruesome-looking pistols in all four of his hands.

"He's a lot uglier than I thought." Rezxy whistled in amusement.

Vexen was going to reload his pistols, but then Rezxy waved a hand to him.

"No, Vex. This one's mine." Rezxy smiled reassuringly.

Vexen's eyebrows rose. "If you say so." He nodded in acknowledgement as he sheathed his pistols and stepped away from his captain.

"You foolish pests! I'll kill all of you myself!" roared Wahlansche, as he aimed his four guns at the five threats that stood before him.

Rezxy's hand reached for the handle of his great sword.

"Thunderspring Squad, mission accomplished."

Wahlansche pulled the trigger of his pistols. At the same time, Rezxy withdrew his great sword at a lightning-fast speed and swung the large blade downwards to meet with the Wahlansche's shoulder. Blood came gushing out as the Undead Baron was violently cut into half by powerful attack.

A loud agonizing roar was heard across the silent streets of Coimbra, as another Devil fell by the hands of the Thunderspring Squad.


	2. Quest 1 Part 1

Quest 1.1

The Thunderspring Squad

"Hey Fye! Get up will you!?" scolded Athena. Her hands were poking the sleeping Fye. It was already 8 in the morning, yet he was still snoring under the cover of his blanket.

"Wake up!" Athena shouted as she pulled Fye's blanket off of him. His body was actually curled into a ball, making him like a small child while he was sleeping.

"Just a little longer mom." Fye groaned drowsily while giving a drooling smile.

Athena gritted her teeth in fury. She unsheathed the pistol she had kept underneath her apron and pulled its trigger. A swift projectile barely missed Fye's nose as it buried itself into the pillow where his head was rested. At that moment, Fye quickly leapt out of his bed, screaming and staggering to the floor.

"Woah! What are you trying to do, Athena? Kill me!?" Fye exclaimed in shock by the wake-up call he had just received from the woman.

"If that's what it takes to get your lazy arse up, then yes!" Athena scolded him back. "Get up! Breakfast's ready!"

"But it's only 8 o'clock." whined Fye as he laid his head on the floor.

"Another bullet struck the wooden floor, just a hair's breadth away from Fye's head, causing him to jump up to his feet.

"Okay!Okay!"

x*x*x

"Bluerrgghh! The Hell? Is this even food?" Fye spat out the broth with disgust.

"And what's wrong with my soup, exactly?" queried Athena angrily, standing in front of Fye and Vexen as the two men were tasting a bowl of her homemade soup at the dining table.

"I know that you hate me for a few reasons, Athena. But please don't try to poison me to death with this thing."Fye said as he shoved his bowl away.

"Excuse me! I cooked this using the few best ingredients around in Granado Espada."

"Well those ingredients must've come from the swamps of Bahama, because that soup of yours almost tasted like a King Snail." Fye complained. He licked his lips a few times before drinking up a bottle of milk.

"It's you who have a weird taste bud." Athena growled. "Look, Vexen's enjoying it."

Vexen was staring blankly at bowl of soup while his hand stirred the broth with his spoon. After a few seconds, he dropped the spoon into the soup and shoved his bowl away as well.

"I've just lost my appetite." Vexen said plainly.

Fye giggled under his breath at this. Athena, however, looked angry like a pot of boiling water. She removed her apron and furiously threw it to Fye's face.

"That's it. I've had with you two ungrateful boys! I'm going to go and check the mailbox." Athena shouted before storming out through the back door located at the kitchen.

"She may be a good tactician, but her cooking skills are awful." Fye sighed while resting his chin against the table. "Darn it, I'm hungry! I want to eat Celeste's cooking!" Fye slammed his hands against the table a few times.

"Did someone call my name?"

Fye and Vexen turned their heads around, only to see Celeste walking into the kitchen, wearing only an unbuttoned shirt over her exposed pair of undergarments. Her hand was poking a small toothbrush into her mouth.

"Oh for God sake, Celeste! Put something proper on, can you?" exclaimed Fye, his face was already flushing red when he turned his head back to the table.

"Woke up on the wrong side of the bed, I suppose?" asked Vexen.

"You can thank your little pest for that." Celeste said accusingly as she presented a white ball of fur in front of them. "Found him sleeping on my bed this morning."

The two men hadn't noticed of the white round-bellied cat with a bobbing head that she was grasping on her left hand. Celeste tossed the cat to the floor. Surprisingly, instead of landing on four of its feet, it landed only with two.

"Snooping with the ladies again, huh Skies." Vexen sighed.

"I just can't sleep without having a nice and warm woman's legs to cuddle with, nyaa." Skies, the cat, suddenly talked in a cute squeaky voice.

Celeste shoved the cat with her foot as she was walking towards the dining table. "Remind me again why you are still keeping this tiny little pervert in our house. I know Fortune Cats are supposed to bring good luck to you, but sneaking under your blankets and purring under your legs is not good luck." Celeste commented in a mouthful of foaming toothpaste.

"Maybe you should just throw him away, Vexen." Fye suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea. I should do that." Vexen nodded with consideration.

"Or else teach him about privacy and boundaries between humans and cats." Celeste added. Upon reaching the table, she picked up Fye's bowl of soup and lifted it to her lips.

"You shouldn't do that…" Fye warned.

But it was too late. Celeste had already taken a mouthful of the horrible broth, but she didn't swallow it. Instead she rinsed her mouth with the soup. She then spat the mixture of broth and toothpaste into the sink located behind the counter.

"Not bad. Taste like Comodo Stew." Celeste shrugged. She took another drain of Athena's soup, and this time she gulped it down.

Fye dropped his jaws in disbelief, his eyes wide as saucers. Celeste was the first person to have liked the soup. Maybe it did taste like Comodo Stew just as she had stated. And perhaps it was really made from Comodo's meat.

"Hey, are those Athena's homemade soup?" asked Skies, looking at Vexen's bowl with curiosity.

Hearing that the cat's stomach was grumbling at the sight of the soup, Vexen lifted his bowl from the table and placed it under his chair.

"Knock yourself out." he waved at the cat.

With that, Skies rushed for the bowl of 'delicious' soup and greedily shovelled the liquid into his mouth, as if the cat hadn't eaten for weeks.

"I have to admit, he really is a big help when it comes to finishing off Athena's cuisine." Vexen said.

"You're right." Fye suppressed a laugh.

x*x*x

A few minutes later, Athena returned to the kitchen via the back door. She was carrying a newspaper and a piece of envelope in her hand.

"We're on the first page, again." Athena said cheerfully as she dropped the newspaper on the table for everyone to see. The headline was given the title, 'Bar in Coimbra Caught ablaze, the Undead Baron Killed.'

"Believed to be the work of mercenaries or bounty hunters, the remains of the Undead Baron Wahlansche was found under the rubbles of the building, along with three burnt corpses which had belonged to Gavis. The owner of the establishment could not be found; investigators believed that he was kidnapped by the perpetrator of this incident." Vexen read a part of the contents in the article.

"So they are labelling us as kidnappers? That sucks." complained Fye out of disappointment.

"I feel sorry that we have to set the place into flames though." said Celeste.

"We can't leave too much evidence for those Royalist troops." Athena reminded.

"By the way, Athena, whose letter is that?" Vexen asked, pointing to the envelope which Athena was still holding in her grasp.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about this."

Athena rushed out to the living room, which was located in front of the kitchen. There, Rezxy, dressed in a sleeveless shirt and a pair of shorts, was laying his back on a long, red couch, an opened book covering his face.

"Rezxy, there's a letter for you." Athena told him as she approached the couch.

Rezxy lifted half of his body up, causing the book on his face to fall to his lap.

"Huh? For me, who's it from?" asked Rezxy in a jest.

"I don't know. There was no name on the envelope, except for yours that is." Athena shrugged. Handing the letter over to Rezxy, she then went back to kitchen to join the others.

Rezxy took a closer observation on the piece of envelope in his hands. His own name was written neatly in black ink on the clean stark-white paper. There was no address of their residence on the envelope, which could mean that the sender had delivered the letter personally to their home. The most unexpected thing for Rezxy was when he saw at the back of the envelope.

The letter was sealed by the insignia of the Vespanola kingdom.

He felt like as if his blood had frozen in ice. The Vespanolan had already discovered the existence of him and his Thunderspring Squad. The Queen will never tolerate a bunch of outlaw mercenaries to interfere with her country's matter, and the Thunderspring Squad had done quite a lot of things which attracted the eyes of the kingdom to them.

Shaking the tense away from his head, Rezxy quickly unsealed the envelope and removed the folded piece of letter that was inside it. Carefully unfolding the paper, he then began to read the neat handwritings on it:

To Captain Rezxy Lycis,

Yes, I know who you are, and I know about your Thunderspring Squad. And I was also informed of your current meddling with the Royalist's affairs in Granado Espada recently. Rest assured that your secrets are all safe with me, as I have no intentions of getting you or your teammates into any trouble with Vespanola.

Anyway, I'm here to offer a task for your mercenary team. I'm sure that people of your calibre will have no problem in accomplish this mission that I will be entrusting you with. Your mission is to enter the Prison de Joaquin that is located at the Joaquin Crater. Inside the prison, there's a basement where you will find a very unique 'artefact' implanted on the building's power generator. You're to retrieve the artefact at all cost and bring it back safely. Once you've accomplished your task, you'll be rewarded with a total of 300 million Vis, cash.

I certainly hope that you would consider my offer, as this artefact will be the 'future' of Granado Espada and the kingdom of Vespanola.

On the corner of the letter was written the word 'Zero', and large 'Z' was engraved in red ink underneath it. Rezxy could guess that the word 'Zero' was sort of a codename of this letter's sender. Whoever this Zero is, he means business.

Rezxy immediately got up from the couch, and slowly walked to the kitchen to meet his teammates. When he arrived, Vexen, Fye, Celeste and Athena were all sitting together at the table, while Skies was still gulping down his soup on the floor.

The four of them stopped chattering and turned their eyes towards Rezxy, eager to listen to what their leader was going to say.

"It's a client." Rezxy raised the letter to his shoulder so that everyone could see it.

"A client? Who was it?" asked Athena.

"Some guy by the nickname Zero. He has already provided us with the briefing." Rezxy replied, already intended to skip the part that their client was an associate of Vespanola.

"Zero? Like the number zero or the loser zero?" Celeste raised an eyebrow.

"So what's the plan, Rex?" Vexen queried, taking a gulp from the small bottle of wine in his hand.

"We're to obtain an item from the inside of Prison de Joaquin, and to return the item safely back to the client." Rezxy explained.

"Prison de Joaquin? But wasn't that place abandoned since like a couple of years ago?" Celeste asked in bewilderment.

"You're right, and our mission is to retrieve the client's artefact for him. Once that has been accomplished, we'll be rewarded with an amount of 300 million Vis."

That caused Fye to spray out the milk he was drinking upon Vexen's face.

"300 million? You're joking!" denied Celeste.

"5 million for killing the Wahlansche is high enough. But 300 million for a mere treasure hunt? Quite preposterous." retorted Athena.

"This is a scam, alrigfht. There's no way that someone will be crazy enough to pay so much of cash for some stupid antique." Fye stated.

"300 million, that's quite a lot of fish, ayy Vexen?" Skies suddenly interrupted the conversation.

After wiping off the milk from his face with the apron that Athena had removed earlier, Vexen tossed the piece of cloth roughly to Fye's head.

"So what's your decision, Rex?" asked Vexen.

Rezxy looked at his comrades for a while, took a deep breath and exhaled heavily.

"I hate to say this, but I'm going. Whether it's a scam of not, there must be a good reason for the reward to be this high," Rezxy made his decision.

"Suit yourself. I'm behind you all the way." Vexen nodded.

"This mission might sound illogic, but if you're going Rezxy, then count me in." Athena said.

"Me too. I could use some nice new jewellery." Celeste beamed.

"I'm sure that you will all be helpless without my magic, so I'll go as well." Fye joked to them, although Rezxy could spot the slight nervousness in his face.

The Thunderspring Squad had all made their decisions. Rezxy gave a satisfied smile at his friends.

"Then it's settled. Moving out, Thunderspring Squad!" Rezxy bellowed courageously.

"Yes, captain!" the four of them yelled out in unison.


	3. Quest 1 Part 2

Quest 1.2

Enter Prison de Joaquin

After a whole day and night on horseback from the Coimbra Nimrod Bridge, the Thunderspring Squad finally arrived at the Joaquin Crater. Somehow, they had managed to arrive to their destination without facing any problems with bandits or wild animals.

"Uugh... this place gives me the jeepers." Fye muttered, shivering under the enormous grey stone building that stood before him. He should've just wear his Deinclain fur coat instead of this clean white Clara Margo coat.

"Prison de Joaquin was built 16 years ago by the NOCC. This place was used to hold political prisoners of Vespanola. It was considered to be the largest prison in Orpesia." explained Celeste while she was tying the reins of her brown horse to a tree, next to the other four Thunderspring Squad's stallions. As usual, she was dressed in her precious leather garments; the Gladiator's Armour, a fashionable design made exclusively by the famous designer Andre Janzur, just like Fye's Clara Margo coat.

"But why did they abandon it?" Fye asked in dumbfounded.

"Because the NOCC was disbanded after it's headquarter was attacked by the rebelling pioneers during the Three-Year War between Vespanola and Brestia." Rezxy said, walking towards Fye in his heavy set of blue-lining Schivarliere metal armour.

"If this place was abandoned, then what happened to all of the prisoners?" Fye asked.

Rezxy didn't answer, but his grim expression revealed everything.

"Don't tell me!" Fye shouted while crossing his arms together.

"Being a criminal has its price. Either you die now or later." Vexen said with a sigh. He donned a dark black version of the Pioneer's Le Blanc Musketeer coat.

"Relax, Fye. It's not like we're going to find any walking dead in there. A few rotten corpses maybe, but I don't think we'll find any form of undead inside this place." Athena said, wrapping her arms around Fye's collar. Opposite to Vexen, she wore the dark finely decorated Le Noir coat; a uniform specially made for the elites of Granado Espada's pioneers.

"It's not like we haven't seen any undead around, Athena." Fye shivered, remembering the undead Wahlansche and Gavis they had encountered three days ago.

"You feel it, Celeste?" Vexen queried, while staring at the flock of black crows flying around the roof of the building.

Celeste nodded. "I'm not sure why, but Fye is right. This place is quite disturbing."

"Then we should find the client's artefact and get out of this place as soon as possible." Rezxy said, as he went for the large two metred double doors which was the main entrance to Prison de Joaquin. His teammates followed him suit.

Rezxy the stopped in front of the doors and inspected them closely.

"It seems that this place hasn't been disturbed for some time now." he said, noting that the handle was all covered in dust and rust. The truth was that Rezxy was actually worried that their task might have been a trap, and that a Royalist ambush is waiting for them inside the building.

But he was wrong, and he was grateful for that.

"Well, duh. This place has the word 'abandoned' in it." Celeste blurted.

"Oh great it's lock." Rezxy growled, as the handle didn't budge when he tried to push it. Then a thin smile spread across his lips. "No matter…"

Lifting his metal-covered leg up, Rezxy delivered a powerful front kick against the doors, throwing the wide opened with an explosive sound.

"Let's go then." Rezxy gestured to them, and the five mercenaries made their first step into Prison de Joaquin.

x*x*x

Before they had proceeded further into the prison, the Thunderspring Squad took a short stop in order to make a final inspection on their supplies and the equipment they had brought with them.

Rezxy had brought with him his black great sword, the Schvarliere Slayer. Vexen had his two Serpent Revolvers holstered on his belt, while his black Dragon Hunter bayonet was strapped on his back. Athena carried her one and only trusted weapon of choice, the glimmering white Aquarius Tempest bayonet, which was also one of the powerful Constellation Treasures made by the Ancient Gods of Zeia. Celeste also had her own Constellation Treasure, the sabre of Acuben's Will, while other than that she also carried a bulky looking pistol called the Revolver of Justice.

Strangely enough, only Fye hadn't equipped himself with a weapon. In fact, he wasn't carrying any form of offensive object with him.

After the inspections on their equipment had been made, the Thunderspring Squad stood together in a circle for one final briefing of their mission.

"Prison de Joaquin is divided into five main parts." Explained Athena, while showing them an old drawing of the interior plans of Prison de Joaquin, carefully drawn on a big canvas sheet. Athena had brought this old map yesterday from a black market located near the docks of Coimbra.

"The Morghus; this is where we are now." she pointed at the first section of the drawing. "Next we'll have to cross the Altar of Despair to get to the Torture Chamber." she continued while pointing at the second and third schematics in turns.

"T…tt…Torture Chamber, you say?" Fye stammered nervously.

"Well, this place is a prison after all." said Vexen.

"Yeah. What's with you, Fye? You looked chicken out since the first time we arrived here." Celeste added.

"Sorry…it's not wrong to be scared right." Fye bowed his head in embarrassment.

"Well, I guess not." Rezxy shrugged. "Please continue, Athena."

"Right, as I was saying, from the Torture Chamber, there's the Schivarliere, a long corridor that leads to the Gehenna Bridge, the final part of Prison de Joaquin." Athena resumed.

"Hold on." Vexen interrupted, his fingers pointing to the final section of the map. "You said this was the final part of the prison, then where's the basement where the artefact is being kept?"

Athena shook her head. "Unfortunately, there aren't any drawings of mentions that there's any basement in this building. I've studied entire map, and there's nothing to prove that the basement exists."

"So this was all just a trick!" exclaimed Fye in disbelief.

"Don't jump into conclusions yet, Fye." Vexen grumbled.

"If the basement doesn't exist on the map…" Celeste said while thinking.

"Then perhaps the person who had constructed this place didn't want anyone else to know of its existence. It's where the building's power source is located, after all." Rezxy helped her to finish.

"Or maybe he's trying to hide this so-called artefact that our client is looking for." Vexen added.

"That's another way to explain it." Rezxy nodded in agreement.

"Is this antique really that important?" Fye wondered.

Then Rezxy remembered what Zero had mentioned to him in the letter; that this object they were asked to find will affect the future of Granado Espada and Vespanola. If that's true, then there's another reason for them to accomplish this mission no matter what.

"This mission is going to be tougher than I thought. Looks like we're gonna have to search this whole place high and low." Rezxy admitted.

The four of his teammates looked at one another, and then nodded to their captain.

"Let's go Thunderspring Squad! Athena, lead the way." Rezxy ordered them.

"Yes, captain." Athena responded. She unfolded the map and tucked it safely under her coat. As she started walking down the corridor of the Morghus, Rezxy and the others followed her from behind.

x*x*x

"Something's bothering bothering you?" asked Vexen while walking beside Rezxy as the Thunderspring Squad made their way across the vast corridor of the Morghus.

"Something is definitely not right here." Rezxy said coldly as he looked at the dozens of empty barred prison cells built to the walls of the building. "This place was supposed to be abandoned years ago. And from what I heard, the NOCC didn't release their prisoners even after this place was shut down."

Vexen looked at the prison cells with a grim expression. "Now that you've mention it, I haven't seen a single trace of carcass since we're here."

"They could have made an escape of their own, but…"

"That's highly unlikely." Vexen shook his head in disagreement. "Prison de Joaquin was designed to hold even the strongest of creatures within its confinement. Also, the front door was tightly locked when we first arrived."

"I don't like where this is going" Rezxy grunted under his breath.

The two friends then returned their gaze to the front. Athena was walking a couple of metres in front of them, the Aquarius Tempest held neatly in her hands. Fye and Celeste was close behind her, both had their eyes admiring the high walls and ceilings of the prison.

"Tell me, Rex. Why did you choose to accept this job in the first place? You do remember that we're mercenaries, not treasure hunters, right?" Vexen asked, eyes still looking at the front.

Rezxy lowered his head down as his mind tend to find a suitable 'answer' for his friend's question, but nothing came to him. He felt really guilty to lie at his comrade, especially Vexen, who was his right hand man in the Thunderspring Squad. He must tell Vexen the truth, just to him.

"That Zero, he works for the Vespanolan government." Rezxy said in a lowered tone volume, so that the others would not be able to listen to their conversation.

Vexen didn't look too surprised or shocked by it; he just raised an eyebrow in amusement. "I see, a client directly from Vespanola, now that's a first. I understand why you wouldn't want the others to know about this."

Rezxy bowed his head. "I'm sorry. I just don't want to cause all of you any worry. He did promise that he wouldn't tell the kingdom regarding our identity."

"So that's why you accepted his offer?"

"Yes, that is one of the reasons." Rezxy nodded.

"Then what is the second one?" Vexen asked with curiosity in his eyes.

Rezxy gave a short sigh and blurted it out. "He told me in the letter, that the artefact that we're looking for is somewhat very important to the future of Granado Espada and Vespanola."

Vexen gave a short chuckle. "So I see. I didn't know that you actually cared about the fate of this country and the kingdom. I guess I really don't know much about the real you yet."

"I just don't want tragedy to repeat itself." said Rezxy in a grim expression. "I've failed once, and I'm not going to repeat it."

"I understand how you feel." Vexen agreed. "Something I wish that someone out there would punish me for that grievous mistake I had done that day." he then took out a canteen of wine from his belt and drained a few of its content.

"And yet you chose to fog yourself from that incident." Rezxy smiled wryly.

"It's better this way." Vexen sighed while putting the canteen back on his belt.

x*x*x

The walk through the Morghus had taken longer than they had expected. After 30 whole minutes of walking down its long and gloomy corridor, they had finally able to reach the second part of Prison de Joaquin; the Altar of Despair.

The structure of the Altar of Despair was a long and wide stone which connected the Morghus to the Torture Chamber. A hundred metres down under this bridge was a vast pool of boiling lava, erupting out from the volcano crater where this prison was built into. And as its name as implied, a massive altar was located at the centre of the bridge, with a large tombstone placed at its top. A bunch of small burning furnaces was also seen around the side of the bridge.

"This place is even worse than the first one." Fye complained, as he was already breaking with sweat by the intense heat of the active volcano.

"This prison was built inside an active volcano?" Vexen said as he looked down into the burning hell below them.

"According to the schematics, Prison de Joaquin had a magical barrier which protected its structures from any form of eruption that the volcano might cause." Athena explained.

"And that barrier was generated from the building's power plant." Rezxy said. "That's where we'll find the artefact."

"It's really hot in here" panted Celeste while fanning herself with her hand. "Maybe I should lose the clothes a little."

Just as Celeste was about to pull her shirt off, Fye came rushing in and halted her halfway. "Don't even think about it! I've seen enough yesterday!" Fye yelled nervously, his cheeks were already flushing red.

"So Athena, where do we go now?" Rezxy asked as he went to stand next to her.

"From here we'll have to pass the Torture Chamber. The entrance is on the other side of this bridge." Athena directed her eyes to the large double doors beyond the bridge. She then craned her up into the sky. "See that long bridge up there? That's the Gehenna Bridge; the final part of Prison de Joaquin."

The four of them looked up as well, and saw a very long elevated bridge dozens of metres high above their heads. The bridge appeared to be longer, and slightly wider than the Altar of Despair. It connected a large outdoor veranda-like structure to a small entrance that was built into the volcano walls.

"Where does that bridge leads to?" Fye asked to Athena.

"There is no info about that on this map. It only said that Gehenna Bridge was connected to the Schivarliere. I'm not sure where that strange door will lead to though." Athena said while scratching her head with curiosity by the mysterious door that wasn't drawn on the map.

"Probably it will take us to where the building's power plant is located." Fye grinned broadly. A disc-shape of magical energy began to form under his feet. "I'll just have to levitate myself up towards that bridge and check it out then."

"Hold it, Fye." Rezxy ordered him. The disc under the young man's feet vanished and his legs dropped back on the ground.

"Eyy? What's wrong Rezxy?" Fye questioned him dumbfounded.

"You numbskull." scolded Celeste, slapping Fye on the back of his head. "The client said basement. And basement is down, not up. Got it? God, even a toddler knows that." she slapped her palm against her face.

"Wait, listen." Rezxy hushed them. "Did you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" puzzled Athena.

"Something's moving, right underneath us." he pointed down to the floor.

"I can't feel anything…" denied Celeste.

"No wait. Rezxy's right." Fye interrupted. His right hand then began to glow and a rod with four black wing ornaments on its head began to materialize on his hand. This was Fye's weapon, the Constellation Treasure, Control of Ophiucus. "I can feel hundreds of life force directly beneath our feet."

The atmosphere had grown tense. The five of them withdrew their respective weapons and scanned the vast opened bridge in alarm. Rezxy wondered if they were being over-cautious. There was still no sign of an enemy. They begged the question, were they being followed by someone, or worse, something.

"Royalists? Bandits?" whispered Celeste.

"Unlikely." Vexen disagreed.

"I can still feel life forces. There are a large numbers of them." Fye muttered.

"Watch out!" Rezxy dodged out of the way, as a strange armored creature flitted out from behind him, The curved blade that the creature was wielding had failed to slash him and the creature landed on all fours in front of them.

"What on earth is that thing?" exclaimed Athena.

"Looks like he's not alone." growled Vexen.

A hundred more of the humanoid monster climbed up to bridge at the same time, followed by another hundred. Rezxy now recognized the features of these beasts. They had a human-shaped body and heads which had sharp fangs protruding out from their long reptilian-like snout. All of these creatures were covered in dull scale armours, and a helmet that covered their ugly monstrous faces. Each of these monsters carried a long crescent-curved blade on one hand that could slice off a human's head with ease if not careful.

"Jabberwocks!" Rezxy said after recognizing what the creatures were.

"Jabber-what?" Fye snapped.

"Jabberwocks. They were known for attacking pioneers a couple of times in the wild. I can't believe they could inhabit a place such as this." Celeste told him.

"And what are those things then?" Vexen asked while pointing up into the sky.

A swarm of ghostly wraiths clad in a silvery robe, each had a book in hand, could be seen flying down towards the Altar of Despair from the Gehenna Bridge at a very fast speed.

"Evil Priests!" Rezxy growled.

"This place was filled with monsters. We're trapped!" Athena cursed, taking an aim with her rifle.

The Thunderspring Squad was now encircled by hundreds of Jabberwocks and Evil Priests, and there was no opening for them to escape from the monsters. They were outnumbered from a hundred to one.

"Great, just when I thought this was just going to be a walk in the park." Celeste growled, gripping firmly on her Acuben's Will and Revolver of Fortune.

"Looks like this wasn't a treasure hunter's job after all." Vexen smirked, while lifting his two Serpent Revolvers up to his shoulders.

"What now, Rezxy?" Fye asked, as a sphere of magical energy took form on his right palm.

"We'll just have to force our way through these losers." Rezxy replied, as he held his great sword in both hands. A smile of satisfaction appeared on his face. "This is where the fun begins, I see."

The five mercenaries charged at different directions towards the swarm of enemies that were encircling them.

"Thunderspring Squad! Move out!" Rezxy bellowed a thunderous battle cry as he swung his blade horizontally on the first group of Jabberwocks.


	4. Quest 1 Part 3

Quest 1.3

To End the Rapture

Three Jabberwocks crumbled in defeat by the weight of Rezxy's mighty Schivarliere Slayer. Four more Jabberwocks vaulted towards the heavy-armoured warrior.

"Slaughter!" in a blink of an eye Rezxy delivered four quick consecutive slashes with his great sword, splitting the four Jabberwocks' bodies into clean pieces. "Ultimate Dash!" Rezxy made a forceful forward charge and swept away five Jabberwocks in front of him.

"Dancing Revolvers!" a few afterimages of Vexen were formed as he unleashed a frenzy of graceful shots at the swarm of Jabberwocks in front of him while moving sideways at a very fast speed. Ten Jabberwocks were killed in the onslaught. A dozen of Evil Priests took the chance to attack Vexen from above.

"Circle Penetration!" Vexen fired a series of rapid shots in succession to the Evil Priests encircling him, killing the wraiths before they even had the chance to attack him. Surprisingly, instead of falling to the ground, the Evil Priests burst into purple flames in mid-air when killed.

"They're just sprits!" shouted Athena, while firing continuous of precise shots at the airborne Evil Priests. Bullet by bullet belched out from her Aquarius Tempest, and not a single one missed its target.

"You don't have to tell me that!" replied Celeste, while shooting down a bunch of Evil Priests with her Revolver of Justice. While she was busy with the flying enemies, seven Jabberwocks made a charge towards her.

"Assassinate!" with her lightning-fast speed, Celeste had confused the Jabberwocks. After delivering countless of swift pierces with her Acuben's Will, she finished off with a single critical slash that brought down all of the seven Jabberwocks instantly.

"Too easy." Celeste spat at one of the Jabberwock, not realizing that a line of three Evil Priests were closing in on her.

"Penetration Shot!" Athena took aim and released a single bullet from her rifle, immediately taking down the line of airborne Evil Priests that were going to attack Celeste. Celeste was taken aback when the bullet flew past her head earlier and she was later relieved when knowing that her friend has just saved her life.

"Pheww. Thanks, Athena."

"Guess now you owe me one, right?" Athena said while smiling. Then suddenly Celeste dashed towards Athena, her sabre was ready to swing.

"Drive Spear!" Celeste drove herself pass a dozen of Jabberwocks, which were about to strike Athena on her blind spot, while cutting them all down with her sabre. She then spun around her heel and attacks the dozen of Evil Priests, which were floating above Athena's head with her pistol.

"And that makes us even then." said Celeste with a playful grin.

"You sneak…" Athena sneered, smiling with irritation that her glory saving Celeste had just melted away.

Fye was now standing at the edge of the stone bridge, surrounded by twenty three numbers of Jabberwocks that were pacing slowly towards him.

"Now now, boys. No need to act all hasty and push me down. Maybe we should talk about this peacefully." Fye stammered nervously while pointing his Control of Ophiucus around at the group of Jabberwocks.

Obviously, the Jabberwocks didn't understand what Fye had said to them, though it did aroused the creatures to sprint towards him. Together, the Jabberwocks shoved Fye off the bridge, sending him into the fiery pit below along with a few of the Jabberwocks which had accidentally slipped from the edge of the bridge in their attempt to push the young man down.

The remaining Jabberwocks scanned below the bridge for their victim, but Fye was nowhere to be seen. Probably he was already swallowed down by the pot of lava.

"Hey duckheads!" a voice came from above the Jabberwocks. They lifted their heads up, only to see that Fye was harmlessly floating himself in mid-air by a disc of energy under his feet. Not a single scratch was laid on him or his white Clara Mago coat.

"Did you guys miss me?" Fye queried in a taunting manner. The monsters only provided angry snarls in respond. "I'm going to take that as a yes." he smiled mischievously.

Just when Fye was safe from the Jabberwocks, a group of Evil Priests launched dozens of balls of lightning towards the airborne wizard.

"Hey, that's not fair! Protection Field!"

Before the lightning balls could hit him, Fye conjured a wide sphere of magical energy to encase himself with. The spherical barrier then absorbed all of the Evil Priests attacks with ease without even faltering under the rain of lightning blows. The barrier then disappeared once the onslaught of lightning balls had ceased completely.

"Elemental Magic? Huh, boring." Fye slurred. His entire body began to emit a radiant glow. "Let's see how you like my magic trick."

"Photon Splash!" Fye released a series of psychokinetic spheres from his body which blasted out all of the Evil Priests and Jabberwocks that were within his range.

"These pesky ghosts are seriously getting on my nerves." Fye said while turning his at the half-a-hundreds of Evil Priests were flying around the Altar of Despair. "I can't attack all of them at once, but I perhaps I could hold them down for a short while."

Fye's Control of Ophiucus produced a yellowish glow; he then swung the rod in a horizontal motion.

"Web!"

All of the Evil Priests in the Altar of Despair suddenly froze themselves in mid-air, as they were being held down by the powerful force of Fye's magic.

"Vexen, Athena, Celeste! Now's your chance to take them out! Hurry!" Fye bellowed with a voice full of strain.

"It's time to send these spirits back to their grave." Vexen said while taking aim at the static Evil Priests alongside Celeste and Athena.

"Yeah!" both of the women nodded.

The three of them fired their guns in resonance, filling the bridge with the staccato noise of gunshots. Bullets scattered throughout the air and all of the Evil Priests were all massacred in a deadly rain of lead.

After the Evil Priests were all defeated, Fye descended back onto the Altar of Despair. He was then gasping heavily, not for oxygen but for energy. The Web magic he casted had consumed nearly all of his magical energy.

Vexen, Athena and Celeste rushed quickly to his side.

"Are you okay, Fye?" asked Athena with concern.

"I'll be fine. I just need to gather back my energy, that's all." Fye answered while chuckling. "Those spooks are nothing comparing to the Great Magic Master, Fye Vynette." he boasted in addition.

"Well then, O'Great Magic Master. You better gather up your strength back quick..." Vexen said as he turned to face the horde of Jabberwocks that were heading for them. "…Because this battle is not done yet."

The four of them then resumed their assault on the large numbers of monsters.

"Come on, you insects! Make it a challenge for me!" Rezxy shouted while slicing and dicing through the lines of Jabberwocks around him

Out of the blue, an echo of loud snarls came from the end of the bridge. A dozen of new type monsters had just entered the Altar of Despair via the entrance to the Morghus. These new enemies were also covered in dull armours made of entirely metal. But unlike the Jabberwocks, their armours were thicker and duller. Also, these creatures had their entire body covered by their armours without exposing a single inch of their skin. They were slightly taller than the Jabberwocks, and had grotesque two armoured heads that seemed to look as if a single that was split into two. All of the monsters were armed with a blunt short sword and a large octagon shield in their hands.

Leading the pack of these twin-headed monsters was a larger variation of their species. This one stood two times higher than an average human being, and instead of carrying a sword, it wielded a menacing double-edged tomahawk, its blade was nearly as large as a person's body.

"A Dragon Head, and his puny Twin Head underlings… At last, a worthy opponent." Rezxy beamed. He fought passed the Jabberwock mobs as he made his way towards the large Dragon Head and its minions.

The Twin Heads then formed a defensive perimeter in front of their leader to barricade Rezxy's path.

"Carnage!" swinging his Schivarliere Slayer downwards to the ground, Rezxy had sent forth a strong vertical sword wave towards the Dragon Heads. The wave had created a rush of rubbles as it dragged against the stone floor of the bridge. All of the Twin Heads and Jabberwocks that were caught in the wave were minced into pieces mercilessly, a few that survived were thrown off the bridge by the powerful shockwave.

As the sword wave reached its target, the Dragon Head protected itself using its large octagon shield. The wave rammed hard against its shield, the Dragon Head was pushed back a metre backwards before the sword wave had disappeared completely.

"You're too slow, old Dragon Head!" Rezxy shouted while sprinting towards the Dragon Head with his great sword in one hand. As the man was within its reach, the Dragon Head swung its axe at Rezxy's legs. Rezxy jumped high into the air, the steel blade of the tomahawk whistled beneath his feet.

"Try blocking this! Volition!" while still airborne, Rezxy plunged his Schivarliere Slayer down against the Dragon Head's shield. This time, the attack was too strong for the shield to withstand. The shield broke into pieces by the impact of the Schivarliere Slayer. The massive blade then buried itself between the Dragon's Head's two heads.

Rezxy forced the blade down with his might. The Dragon Head was chopped in half from top to bottom. Blood sprayed across the floor as the creature came tumbling down in two separate pieces.

"Rezxy is sure cleaning up the floor out there." Fye commented after witnessing the Thunderspring Squad captain's victory over the large Dragon Head. At the same time, Fye was throwing a few psychokinetic spheres at the Jabberwocks near him.

"Well, that's what makes him our captain." Athena added while she was busy taking down the Jabberwocks with her Aquarius Tempest. "In fact, I never anyone whose as strong as him when I was in Vespanola."

"Indeed he is the strongest Pioneer of his generation." Vexen said, while firing his Serpent Revolvers beside Athena.

"Not to mention…"Celeste paused for a moment as she struck down a Jabberwock with her Acuben's Will. "…that he was the disciple of the legendary Queen of Pioneers. He's the person who could bring down even the largest of beasts;"

"The King of Predators, Rezxy Lycis."

"So who's next, huh?" Rezxy yelled, swinging his great sword at the remaining Jabberwocks that stood against him. His strength was indeed remarkably powerful that the blades of the Jabberwocks' curved sword snapped apart upon colliding with his Schivarliere Slayer.

The battle was quite close to its conclusion. With around forty or so of Jabberwocks left, Rezxy and his Thunderspring Squad gathered together once more as they made their last attempt to defeat the monsters for good.

But before the Thunderspring Squad could proceed with their last assault, the Jabberwocks backed away from them. The monsters snarled furiously altogether and retreated slowly into the Morghus doors.

The Altar of Despair was now a graveyard of monsters, blood and corpses of the Jabberwocks scattered throughout the area.

"What a bunch of cowards." Celeste said while sticking her tongue out at the retreating Jabberwocks.

"I'm glad that's over with." Fye breathed out in relief.

"No." Rezxy cut out. "They'll be back; with even larger numbers I'm afraid. We have to hurry. We need to find this artefact soon and get out of here."

"Easier said than done, we don't even know where this basement is anyway." Athena said.

"That is why we should split up and search for it." Rezxy stated. "Fye. You and Vex will go up to the Gehenna Bridge. I'm sure you'll be able to levitate an extra person without a problem right?"

"I guess so. It's just a couple of floors up." Fye replied as he craned his head up to get a better look at the long bridge above the Altar of Despair. "At least it's not as bad as the Torture Chamber." he added nervously.

"Athena, Celeste and I will go to the Torture Chamber from here. If you find the artefact, retrieve it and leave this place immediately. Whatever happens, all of us must be outside before dawn. And one more thing, please stay alive. I can't afford to lose any one of you guys just for some old artefact. You hear me?"

"Clear as crystal, Rezxy." Fye said while saluting to the captain.

"And be careful. From what we've encountered just now, this prison might be crawling with monsters all over." Rezxy reminded them.

"You watch yourself too, Rex." Vexen smirked. He then went to stand beside Fye. "Let's go, Magic Master Fye."

Fye chuckled in exaggeration. "Better not get airsick while we're up." a transparent disc formed itself underneath both of their feet. They were then lifted up from the ground. "Next stop, Gehenna Bridge." Fye pointed the tip of his Control of Ophiucus up into the sky. The two of the started to levitate towards the Gehenna Bridge at an average speed.

"Let's go." Rezxy signalled to Athena and Celeste.

The three of them spun around on their heels and walked towards the entrance to the Torture Chamber. Without realizing it, they were being watched from the distance by a mysterious figure in black.

"Looks like the Doctor have some visitors. This is going to be interesting." the stranger chuckled fiendishly.

x*x*x

Vexen and Fye had landed safely on the Gehenna Bridge. Fortunately for them, not a single monster was seen anywhere around the long and wide bridge.

"That's odd. Where're all the monsters?" Fye questioned curiously.

"I was thinking of the same thing. This place is totally abandoned. But why exactly?" Vexen said as his eyes patrolled the area for anything suspicious.

"Well I'm glad that it is." Fye beamed. "So Vexen, where should we go now?"

Vexen remained oblivious to Fye's question, his eyes continued to scan the Gehenna Bridge.

"It's quiet here. Too quiet…" Vexen muttered.

All of a sudden, Vexen leaped for Fye and pushed both of them away. They staggered together to the floor just a couple of split seconds before the ground behind them exploded, sending rubbles all over the place.

"What's that? An explosion?" Fye exclaimed.

"No…It's worse." Vexen cursed under his breath.

Vexen and Fye widened their eyes in surprise when a towering giant suddenly materialized itself in front of them. With bright purple coloured body that stood two stories tall, the giant had a frightening face which had a broad mouth with no visible eyes. Packed with a pair of boulder-sized fists covered in metal gauntlets, the monster was the one responsible for blowing the ground where the two mercenaries had stood earlier.

"What is that thing?" Fye yelped.

"No idea, I've never seen anything like it before." Vexen replied in a whispering tone.

"Intruders…All intruders must die!" roared the giant, throwing down one of its boulder fists down towards them.

Vexen and Fye rolled sideways in separate directions. The giant's fist smashed against the floor in a thundering explosion as it missed its target. The blow had formed a crater into the concrete floor of the Gehenna Bridge.

"It just talked!" Fye exclaimed in disbelief.

"All intruders who interfere with Dr. Fran's work shall perish! Gerrero must exterminate all intruders of Dr. Fran!" the giant bellowed.

Fye didn't have the chance to recover onto his feet when the giant Gerrero once again hauled it enormous fist at him.

"Protection Field!" Fye casted a dome of energy around himself. The Gerrero's fist immediately bounced off upon contact with the dome's surface. Even so, Fye's barrier had vibrated heavily under the attack. Another attack like that would surely cause his Protection Field to collapse.

"I'll kill you, puny intruder!" the Gerrero roared with anger. It sent another punch against the barrier, but failed to hit it when a couple of bullets came raining down on its side, causing the giant to flinch aside.

"Fye, get out of here now! Leave him to me, you go and look for the artefact!" Vexen shouted, as he continued to shoot the Gerrero in order to draw its attention.

"But Vexen, you can't fight this thing all by yourself!" Fye stammered in hesitation.

"I'll be okay. Just go, now!" Vexen barked.

The Gerrero now drew its attention towards Vexen after receiving dozens of shots on its body. "Perish, intruder!" the behemoth hurled out its massive fist forward. Vexen evaded with a fast sideway dash, and countered with a series of shots directly onto the Gerrero's face.

Turning himself away, Fye sprinted for the hanging bridge that lead to the small entrance above the Gehenna Bridge. He could still hear the Gerrero's fist smashing the floor and Vexen's pistol firing rapidly behind him. He could only hope that Vexen would stand a chance against the giant all by himself.

"I'll do my best, Vexen. I won't fail you, I won't fail all of you!" he shouted courageously as he made his way across the hanging bridge towards the small entrance.

x*x*x

"First the Jabberwocks, and now this!?" Celeste furiously cursed as she was hacking and shooting at the group of black-armoured humanoid figures in front of her.

When Rezxy, Athena and Celeste first arrived at the Torture Chamber of Prison de Joaquin, they were ambushed at its corridor by a troop of black armoured soldiers which Rezxy had identified as the Eigleschvarlier; lifeless beings which existed only as hollow black armours without any form underneath their shells. They were also the origin of his Schivarlier Slayer, as the blade of the great sword was said to be made out of the Eigleschvarliers' spirit.

"This is really slowing us down." Athena said while firing her rifle at a few Einschivarlieres that were trying to shoot her with their own guns.

"Athena, watch out behind you!" cried Celeste in alarm.

A single Eigleschvarlier was about to thrust it's sword into Athena's spine from her back. Out of Celeste's warning, Athena managed to spin around and avoided contact with the blade. She then slammed the monster's head with the butt of her Aquarius Tempest, and released a shot to the Eigleschvarlier's head right after it staggered to the floor.

"Thanks, Celeste."

"Guess it's you who owes me now." Celeste grinned.

"This things… It's as if they wouldn't want us to advance any further." Rezxy grunted, striking down three Einschivarlieres in a single horizontal sweep.

The Eigleschvarliers may be stronger than the Jabberwocks, but they were still no match for the combined power of the three Thunderspring Squad members. After a couple of minutes, Rezxy, Athena and Celeste finally cleaned off the mobs that had tried to ambush them.

"Could it be that they were guarding the basement?" Celeste wondered.

"If that's the case, then there's got to be a mastermind that is manipulating their strings." Athena said.

"Guess this artefact is really no ordinary artefact." Rezxy admitted. "So this is why you had us doing this work. Isn't that right, Zero." he muttered in his thoughts.

Just when the Eigleschvarliers weren't enough already, a new enemy entered the corridor. Clad in heavy metal armour and armed with two long great swords, a knight riding on a heavily armoured horse galloped passed the three mercenaries. One of its great swords clashed with Rezxy's as it tried to behead him while passing by him.

The knight stopped a few metres in front of them. The horse spun around and the knight now locked eyes with Rezxy and his comrades. The three of them then noticed something shocking regarding their new opponent. Despite looking rather human-like in appearance, the knight's had no legs underneath his body. Its upper body seemed to have fused together with his horse. The two were actually the same entity.

"I am the Fallen Champion, guardian of Prison de Joaquin. Identify yourself, intruder." The knight seethed while pointing one of its great swords towards Rezxy.

Rezxy was about to open his mouth and replied, until Celeste came to stand in his way.

"Vier of the Thunderspring Squad, Celeste Midnightmoon." Celeste introduced herself with a delightful smile. "And you must be my knight in shining armour for today."

"Celeste, what are you doing?" Rezxy queried.

Celeste sheathed her Revolver of Justice and waved her hand dismissively. "Leave this one to me, cap. You need to save your strength for the rest of the journey." she then pointed accusingly at Athena. "And don't get any ideas of shooting him on the head. This Prince Charming is mine."

"Foolish insects! You shall all perish under my swords!" roared the Fallen Champion, while striding in a direct line towards Celest at an incredible speed.

"You're fast, but for how long?" Celeste smiled faintly, as the colour of her right eye changed into light purple.

The Fallen Champion swung its right great sword for Celeste's waist. The woman only stood calmly still as her mouth chanted softly under her breath.

"Moonlight Memories."

x*x*x

"The Dragon Head has fallen." mumbled Dr. Fran Mothein, a tall and muscular gentleman in his late fifties, with a head that was bald in the middle due to ageing and a pale grey skin that appeared to be rotten to the flesh.

"The Fallen Champion and the Gerrero have encountered the intruders… I never thought that this day would come… The Viscount will not be pleased at this." The old Dr Fran continued mumbling to himself as he walked down the stairways of the vast chamber of the Corridor of Assize.

"It's time for you to rise, my precious Chrysalis." croaked Dr Fran in a rasping voice, as he was now standing before a giant cocoon of where one of his most strongest creation now slumbered. Behind him stood hundreds of pale humanoid creatures; their yellow eyes staring eagerly at the doctor and his towering cocoon.

"Rise, my creations! Destroy those intruders!"


End file.
